Rail advocates: Brunswick train barn debate over

BRUNSWICK — The neighborhood group that fought construction of an Amtrak maintenance and layover facility in west Brunswick will not challenge the facility’s stormwater permit in Superior Court.

The decision means construction of the estimated $12.7 million terminal, which proponents say is needed to provide more efficient and possibly expanded passenger rail service in Maine, can proceed. Construction has been underway since fall, and is expected to continue through September, according to the Amtrak Downeaster website.

“Although many in the Brunswick area supported NNEPRA’s proposed location for the facility,” he said, “a group of neighbors who had purchased property next to what has historically been a rail yard … objected, claiming that the facility should be located elsewhere.”

The fact that there has been no further appeal is “good news,” Davis said in a phone interview Monday.

In an interview Wednesday, BWNC spokesman Charles Wallace said the group ran out of money to continue the appeal process.

“That whole nasty affair was fought with taxpayer dollars,” he said, referring to the fact that NNEPRA, which operates the Downeaster, is a public transportation authority.